Career Paths and Calling

It started with a short summary of what Treyz was looking for in a career before she became a consultant: she wanted a job at a university, where she “could have resources to succeed in my job, like a decent database, plus fundraising colleagues who would mentor me, and a career structure, and move on up to a position that paid enough to take vacations to Paris.”

I’m not going to begrudge Treyz her dream job or her advice. I’ve been to her webinars. I’ve read her blog. I might even pay for her conference. She is a good consultant.

And we all have our own paths to follow and our own goals to reach.

But I’m troubled by the idea of ‘winning at the game of fundraising careers’. I say that as someone who’s been accused of trying to become overqualified for the kinds of jobs I want.

There are people for whom fundraising – or other nonprofit careers – is about getting a comfortable and lucrative position. I know some of them. They’re fine people who are often very good at their jobs. But I’m not one of them.

I’m a fundraiser because it’s a way for me to make the world a better place. I’m a fundraiser because it’s how I can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and free the oppressed. I’m a fundraiser because, as Frederick Buechner would put it, it’s the place where my deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.

When I take classes at The Fundraising School, it isn’t so that I can get a higher paying job. When I earned my CFRE, it wasn’t so that I could vacation in Paris. When I read the latest research or attend a conference or watch one of Treyz’s webinars, it isn’t so that I can be more comfortable. It’s all so that I can help community-based organizations, progressive congregations, and the people who support them make the world a better place.

Even more, I believe that those community-based organizations and progressive congregations deserve someone with those qualifications and more.

For me – and I suspect for most people in the nonprofit sector – this isn’t a career, it’s a calling. It’s not a game that I’m trying to win, it’s a vocation that I’m trying to live out.

About

I’m a pastor and a nonprofit development and communications professional. My passion, my mission, and my calling is bringing people together to do good, with a particular focus on serving people who are experiencing poverty and other forms of marginalization.

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